THEY'RE OUT FOR BLOOD

That's the buzz from mosquito fighters-and those attempting to fend off the irksome insects-in and around the Chicago area.

"It's the worst I've seen-they're everywhere," said Bob Kuzma, who works the starter's booth at the Highland Woods Golf Course in Evanston.

"They've got headlights and landing gear. It's like they're coming up through the grass."

"After a while you get used to them," said Mickey Han, shooing a mosquito away as she prepared to tee off at the Caldwell Woods Forest Preserve Golf Course on the city's Northwest Side.

"Sure they're biting-they're biting me now, but I ignore them. I don't let them get in the way of my game."

As if the searing heat this summer hasn't been enough, various other meteorological conditions have conspired to produce the profileration of mosquitoes: The chief culprit is the increase of moisture in the ground and in the air. Mosquito eggs are hatched and develop in stagnant water.

Once airborne, they tend to thrive in humid conditions.

In other words: More rain means more mosquitoes.

The National Weather Service has reported 3.49 inches of rain in August, with most of it falling over 24 hours two weeks ago.

"The humidity has definitely been greater this month, especially when you compare it to last year's average dew point level," said a National Weather Service official.

"This week we seem to have hit our peak," said Donald Suchon, lab director of the North Shore Mosquito Abatement District in Northfield. "That storm two weeks ago was a real setback for us. It created many more new breeding sites and brought out every variety of mosquito that exists in this area."

Mosquito abatement districts-separate taxing bodies charged with controlling the insects-have a network of more than 100 mosquito traps that provide the count with quasi-scientific precision. There are four main districts serving the Chicago area.

"Our phones have been ringing off the wall," said Clark Wood, vice president of service operations at Clarke Environmental Mosquito Management in Roselle. Founded in 1944, the company is one of the largest providers of mosquito control services in the country and is a top manufacturer of mosquito traps and spray equipment.

There are two primary methods of spraying: "larvaciding," which refers to the killing of insects in their breeding grounds and "adulticiding," residential chemical spraying.

Wood said larvaciding is the No. 1 way to control mosquitoes.

"Spraying up and down a street is an admission of defeat," he said. "The best approach is to focus on water management and control the problem by eliminating weeds and periphery plant life that act as breeding grounds."

Mosquito fighters fear that the weeks ahead may see the invasion of billions of flood-water mosquitoes from eggs that had been dormant for months, or even years, before the heavier rains earlier this month stimulated hatching.

"We've been sending out extra spray crews just to keep up with the demand," said Wood. "People have complained about severe biting and bad rashes. They're calling to report breeding sites in their back yards and in nearby open areas.

"The last time we experienced an individual peak like this was back in August of 1987 when we had 12 inches of rain in one day."

In the 1930s, John Clarke, the company's founder, established an "annoyance level" based on the average number of female mosquitoes in the traps. For instance, if a trap contains 30 females-the sex that sucks blood-a person outside during the evening hours can expect to be bitten twice in five minutes.

On Tuesday, Suchon reported that the district's trap count was at an "annoyance level" 10 to 12 times greater than what is considered the normal level for this time of year. That would mean a person would be bitten about once every 15 to 30 seconds at dusk, the primary feeding time.

"What that means is that it's not just in your head-there are more mosquitoes out there than usual," he said. "People are experiencing a lot more stinging and itching."

Suchon had this advice for combating the mosquito problem:

Avoid outdoors during dusk.

Keep house gutters clear.

Keep birdbaths clean and replenished with fresh water.

Keep lighting to a minimum when entertaining outside at night.

"The combination of heavy downpours and high humidity has kept the moisture from drying up," said George Craig, director of the vector biology lab at the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Ind. "Everywhere you look there are small pools of water and that's exactly where mosquitoes like to breed."

Aedes Vexans-the flood-water mosquitoes that are the most common breed found in the Midwest-are "particularly voracious these days," said Craig, former president of the American Mosquito Control Association in New Orleans. "They're on a feeding frenzy that should last until the first frost."